Land wars a vital part of who we are

Labour will be pushing hard to have a day set down for the remembrance of New Zealand’s land wars, Labour’s MP for Hauraki-Waikato Nanaia Mahuta says.

“Today I am proud and honoured to have accepted Leah Bell and Waimarama Anderson’s petition calling for a day commemorating the lands wars and their significance in shaping New Zealand’s history.

“All of us walk backwards into the future – how we progress, what kind of world we provide for our mokopuna and theirs, grows from the seeds of our past. But when this past falls from our memory we lose what anchors us, what makes us strong.

“This is why it is so important to remember our land wars with their own unique day – a day on which the stories of our past are told in our schools, handed down to our children and shared for the benefit of all New Zealanders.

“In accepting this petition today, I pay tribute to those who worked so hard to bring it to this whare, and to our tupuna it seeks to commemorate.

“Labour will now work hard to make the request of the thousands of petitioners’ a reality. I will do what is necessary to make this happen,” Nanaia Mahuta says.